Amazon: E-Books outselling hardcovers

July 19, 2010

New York City Amazon.com said it reached a milestone, selling more e-books than hardbacks over the past three months, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

In a statement Monday, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said the company’s Kindle e-reading device had experienced tripled growth since the company lowered its price to $189 from $259 last month, following asimilar move by Barnes & Noble to cut the price on its Nook e-reader.

Amazon said Kindle device sales accelerated each month in the second quarter -- both on a sequential month-over-month basis and on a year-over-year basis.

Still, Amazon said its hardback book unit sales also continued to increase. Moreover, said the report, while Amazon has become one of the largest booksellers in the United States, it still attracts an online audience that is more inclined to be early adopters of new reading technology.

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